Sheesh. New Orleans Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor made a solid head-up tackle on New York Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger to get his defense off the field on third down, but it wasn’t meant to be — instead, referee Carl Cheffers’ officiating crew threw a penalty flag and said Taylor was committed unnecessary roughness by tackling Bellinger on the play.
It was a brutal penalty, and it’s tough to see what Taylor did that warranted the foul. But the play resulted in a big gain for the Giants, who drove downfield to kick a 40-yard field goal before halftime.
And fans weren’t happy. Neither were the Saints, with head coach Dennis Allen haranguing Cheffers and his crew through the next commercial break. Here’s what fans, media in attendance, former players and viewers on social media had to say about the play:
End of the NFL as we know it. This could be the worst call of the year.
Unnecessary Roughness on New Orleans for this tackle. 🤦🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/WAjq7XFmht
— Lawrence Tynes (@lt4kicks) December 17, 2023
Dennis Allen been going at the officials the entire 2-minute break. Terrible call … again. Saints defense has to do it again.
— Jeff Nowak (@Jeff_Nowak) December 17, 2023
But you can't criticize officiating if you're a player or coach because you'll get fined. Ridiculous. https://t.co/xCSjxD5Ae9
— John Hendrix (@JohnJHendrix) December 17, 2023
Yiadom was throwing his hands up to encourage the crowd during the pause after the next play so they kept on booing
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) December 17, 2023
I cannot believe unnecessary roughness was just called on that Alontae Taylor tackle.
— Brooke Kirchhofer (@brookechesney) December 17, 2023
That's legitimately embarrassing to call a penalty on that.
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) December 17, 2023
Awful unnecessary roughness call on Alontae Taylor. Dennis Allen was so upset by the flag that he came on to the field and lost his headset while animatedly thrusting his fist at the officials.
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) December 17, 2023
That unneccessary roughness penalty on Alontae Taylor deserved the boos it's getting from the Superdome crowd. Awful penalty call.
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) December 17, 2023
Alontae Taylor penalized for hitting too hard.
— Rod Walker (@RodWalkerNola) December 17, 2023
Fans are booing again, but this time it's because of that unnecessary roughness call on Alontae Taylor. That was a bad, bad call. They're still booing a few minutes later.
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) December 17, 2023
Can't even tackle in this league without getting flagged.
— Chris Rosvoglou (@RosvoglouReport) December 17, 2023
That looks like a very bad call against Saints CB Alontae Taylor on the unnecessary roughness. Looked like he hit him low enough, did what you'd want a player to do to avoid helmet contact.
— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) December 17, 2023
That's a horrible call man. That was a textbook play from Alontae.
— Chris Rosvoglou (@RosvoglouReport) December 17, 2023
Alontae got hosed
— John DeShazier (@JohnDeShazier) December 17, 2023
Terrible call.
— Ross Jackson (@RossJacksonNOLA) December 17, 2023
League is soft as hell if that's a penalty.
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) December 17, 2023
"It looked bad, so let's call it."
— John Hendrix (@JohnJHendrix) December 17, 2023
What a ridiculous call man he didn’t even hit his head
— Rowan⚜️🎄 (@rowanhanna) December 17, 2023
Looked clean to me. lol
— Dee❤💚🖤💛 (@SaintsSoulja) December 17, 2023
WTF 😳 he tackled him clean https://t.co/9C0nLwoEeh
— Rod Fulton (@SaintRoderick) December 17, 2023
What the hell is that penalty
— John Sigler (@john_siglerr) December 17, 2023
